getting out of them as best she could--the butt of her class as well as
the favorite, always true to herself and indifferent to the censures or
the praise of her fellow-creatures.

"Well, Bess, is that you? Do wait for me," called out a panting voice
in the distance.

Late as she was, Bessie stopped. It was never her way to leave a
fellow-creature in the lurch.

A girl with dancing eyes and rosy cheeks came panting and puffing round
the corner.

"I just caught a sight of the red ribbon with which you tie your hair,"
she said. "I am so glad you are late; I am too, and I am quite ashamed
of myself."

"Why in the world should you be ashamed of yourself, Alice?" asked
Bessie. "I don't suppose you meant to be late."

"Of course not; but I shall lose my mark for punctuality; and you know,
Bessie, I am feverishly anxious to get a move, and to--to win the
scholarship at the midsummer break-up."

Bessie yawned slightly.

"Come on, Alice," she said; "I am disgracefully late as usual, and we
need not make matters worse. I suppose we must wait in the hall now
until prayers are over."